


Sugar Coated Pain

by trenchcoatsandfreckles



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, But not alive either, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance blames himself, M/M, Spoilers, he's not really dead, keith dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-15 06:09:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16927914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trenchcoatsandfreckles/pseuds/trenchcoatsandfreckles
Summary: Lance fails to save Keith's life in battle. It's ironic that the only thing Lance could control killed the boy he loved; Water.~.~“What if we find a doctor? A Galra doctor? That could save him, right?” Lance asked.“I don’t think so my boy, I’m afraid Keith is one of a kind, I’ve never met another human with an anatomy quite like his."“The pod isn’t enough to bring him back, but it keeps him from dying” Pidge supplied with a quivering voice.





	Sugar Coated Pain

“KEITH”

Lance watched Axca shove Keith into a clearing in the midst of the scrubland. Cold air hit his cheeks as he watched. He could see from the distance that the ground they stood on wasn’t really ground at all, they shoved each other on what appeared to be a frozen lake.

The boy tried to act quick as he aimed his rifle at the girl, fingers shaking as he struggled to spare the paladin near her. He let out a shaky breath, holding it in as he shot. 

Lance noticed Acxa fall as clutched her shoulder. The world seemed to go in slow motion as the girl fell to the ground, a thundering noise echoing through the air.

The fighters gazed at the floor, gaping at the crack that Axca’s fall had made in the ice. The girl crawled away quickly while Keith stood perfectly still. He watched the crack approach him as he moved tentatively towards the edge.

“Keith!” The Korean turned slowly towards him, the boy stopped dead in his tracks as he saw Keith get swallowed by the lake.

Lance stepped closer to the hole, trying to spot his friend in the water. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears, his breath hurried with every second that passed without him seeing Keith. He heard a consistent bang coming from around him, slower than his heartbeat. It took him a second to realize that it was Keith banging on the ice that trapped him underwater.

The Latin began pounding the ice with his fists as he watched the Korean pound opposite him. Tiny air bubbles came out of Keith’s nose, his eyes desperately looking at Lance for help. The blue paladin responded by pounding as hard as he could, but nevertheless, the ice wasn’t budging. Keith’s eyes began closing slowly, his blinks becoming more sporadic, his pounds growing weaker. 

“KEITH! Buddy! Stay with me!” Lance impacted the ice twice as hard as before, powered by the adrenaline of seeing his friend’s unconscious body sink into the water, small drops of blood began smearing the ice with every hit. 

“Guys! Red! Can you hear me?!” Lance blurted into his comms, panicked, as he watched Keith blink for one last time. The Korean went limp as his body sank into the depths of the lake. Lance pounded harder, a chill running down his spine as he felt one of the lions call for him.

“Red! Please, it’s Keith”

The Lion landed next to Lance in seconds, the lake cracking once again under his weight, he shot his canon behind Lance diving into the hole it created. Lance jumped into the land next to him as the remaining ice sank into the water. 

Red emerged a minute later, scooping Lance inside him with his jaw. He felt the immediate change in temperature as his eyes focused on Keith’s soaked frame, he grabbed his shoulder to straighten Keith’s back on the floor.

“Keith? Keith?” The boy asked, sliding his hand under the other's hood to search for a pulse on his neck. Lance felt a faint beat under his fingers.

“It’s okay, you’re gonna be okay. I got you” Lance kneeled next to Keith and placed his hands on Keith’s chest. “It’s just like at the beach Lance, you know how to do this” He calmed himself down before pressing against the boys’ chest.

As he leaned down to breathe into Keith’s mouth, Red warned him that they didn’t know what that would do to Keith’s Galra anatomy. Lance groaned, tears threatened to fall from his eyes as he looked at Keith’s unconscious body. Debating on following Red’s advice or trying to save Keith’s life regardless.

“Fine! Lance exclaimed as he wiped a tear from his cheek. “But I need you to hurry up!” He sniffled as he placed Keith’s head on his legs, brushing the hair off his forehead. 

“Lance? Lance! What happened??” Hunk’s voice came from the Lion’s coms, “We just saw Red speed past us, I’ve never seen her fly so fast” 

“It’s Keith… He wh… had an accident, he’s gonna be okay” Lance answered in a calm voice to avoid alerting the others.

“What? What happen…” Hunk’s question was cut off by Red as she shut off the comms. Lance sighed, the sound of static filled the air around him, he noticed the wounds that stretched all over Keith’s body, a large bruise had started forming on his neck and small cuts adorned the bridge of his nose.

“Lance…” Coran’s voice breached through the curtain of static as soon as they entered the castle’s ratio, “My boy?”

“Keith almost drowned, I didn’t know if I could give him CPR because he’s Galra and he has a pulse but it’s not very strong, just tell me what I can do” Lance spoke quickly, ignoring the fact that the aliens wouldn’t understand his human terms.

“Nothing for now, I’ll take care of him as soon as you get here” Lance felt the lion touch down on its hangar as soon as Coran was done with his sentence. The boy carried Keith in his arms and ran towards the med bay in the castle.

He yelled for Coran as he ran through the hallways. A door swished beside him, revealing a determined Pidge that began running behind them.

All three of them arrived at the infirmary, Coran instructing Lance to lay Keith on the bed. He noticed Pidge had also begun talking, but no sound reached Lance’s ears. 

Hours could have passed as he stood at the end of the bed, watching his teammates trying to save the life of the boy he loved. A loud beeping brought him out of his trance. “… nothing I can do” He heard Coran tell Pidge. 

“That’s not true and you know it!” Pidge argued back. “Lance, I need you to open that crypod, now!”

Lance ran toward it following Pidge’s instructions. “Keith! I need you to put him in there! Quickly Lance!” The boy obliged and carried Keith inside, looking back at Coran as it closed. He was frowning intensely. 

“I’m sorry number three” Coran wiped a tear from his cheek as he approached Lance.

“He’s… Is he… Pidge?” The teenager turned to Pidge. “He’s not dead my boy, but it is uncertain if he’ll ever wake up”

“The pod isn’t enough to bring him back, but it keeps him from dying” Pidge supplied with a quivering voice. 

_“It is uncertain if he’ll ever wake up”_

_“Keeps him from dying”_

The words floated through Lance’s mind as tears flowed down his cheeks. “What if we find a doctor? A Galra doctor? That could save him, right?” Lance asked.

“I don’t think so my boy, I’m afraid Keith is one of a kind, I’ve never met another human with an anatomy quite like his” Coran kept talking as Lance turned to Keith. He walked up to him, the blue glow from the pod illuminating Lance’s features.

Tears flowed freely down his cheeks as he watched Keith, the cuts on his body were gone, the forming bruise was barely there, even his skin seemed back to normal, but he still seemed so… dead.

The pod dimmed before him, his body became heavy. He could hear the rest of his teammates enter the med bay, their voices seemed distant. He felt hands touch his back, and then, nothing.

~-~

Lance woke up in a dark room, he quickly realized he was still in the infirmary. The knuckles of his hands were wrapped in bandages, and his paladin armor laid forgotten in the bed next to him. 

He walked up to Keith with a stoic expression and began “I’m… I’m sorry Keith. I should have tried harder” Lance frowned and looked downwards with an unfocused gaze.

“I never hated you Keith, whatever happens tonight, if… if you don’t make it to tomorrow. Just know that, I… care about you, we all do” He looked at Keith once again, picturing the expression he would have made if he was awake.

“We need you Keith, you’re our leader” He chuckled sadly. “Lance and Keith, neck and neck. We’re rivals. We need each other” He paused, dropping the joke-y tone. “I need you” Lance’s tears resumed as he continued.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t enough for you Keith, I know you would have saved me, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry” Lance’s sobs became agitated. 

“Just know that I… I admired you. You were always so cool and so smart, _I_ wanted to be like that. I wanted to be your friend and hang out with you and…” Lance cut himself off, shaking his head immediately afterwards.

“I wanted to make you happy” He swallowed, bandaged hands shaking next to him. “I… think you’re so amazing Keith, all I ever wanted to do was to protect you and I’ve done the exact opposite” He balled up his fists and exhaled, calming himself down.

“I’ll be here for you Keith, I know you’ll wake up. Let me just get my stuff” He began walking towards his room with a fast pace, hoping he wouldn’t run into any of his friends. He jogged inside, grabbing his blanket and pillow, slipping his night shoes on the way out.

Lance returned to Keith that night and slept in the infirmary near him. He came back the following night, and the night after that. He would fill Keith in on the action that he’d missed. “We’re gonna have to duel when you wake up Keith! Check out this baby!” He told him the night he discovered his broadsword.

Days became weeks, and they’d stopped counting after that, they all knew Keith wasn’t coming back, but Lance refused to give up. He slept in his room, but visited Keith constantly, he knew the truth, but a small voice inside of him hoped.

Even after Lotor almost got the best of them, Lance returned to Keith. Even after he became the Black Paladin.

When they lost the castle, Red became Keith’s new home, as well as Lance’s, he always returned to Keith.

Even today, Lance returns to Keith’s grave occasionally, back on Earth next to his dad. He tells him about his students at the garrison, and that cargo pilot that seems to pay a little too much attention to his “rival” in the fighter class.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! Thank you so much for reading!! <3 Let me know if you liked it, if you hated it. Any feedback is good feedback.


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